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i said "young", i never said anything about kids. a twelve year old is just a kid.  anyway i'm sort of playing the devil's advocate thing here and using the forum to air out some of my own conflicts and observations about basically the capital since i have never left the city area.  you know the danger of the internet is that when people feel anonymous they say and do things that they don't normally do in public.

i have never read oscar wilde but i believe he made the memorable statement: "never be boring".  so if my comments disturbed you people for a few minutes at least you weren't bored.  and boredom is a big problem i have come to realize when one has too much free time to spend.

if we discard my over the top remarks about santo domingo what do i really think about the place?  there are some things here that are hard to find in the united states i would agree.  and if ex patriots chose to live here, then i also agree that there must be a reason for them to do so.  maybe the fishing is better here than in the states?  who knows, i am not a fisherman, so i have no clue.

carlvelas,

Wow somewhat glad I spent the day on the beautiful beach and got to read all these posts in one fell swoop.

I am sorry you are so unhappy and not basically enjoying life.  I don't think any place will suit you needs.  For many of us here, who are here full  time, we seem to enjoy it.  If not we would be gone.

Maybe you need a different pair of glasses to look at life with.

It must be hard to be so angry and unhappy.  I do feel sorry for you.

Bob K 
"a happy expat for over 9 years now"

and speak for yourself when it comes to exploiters,  I am not in that club!!!!

i think you are boring .last comment i have

sorry if i bored you donkey.  i did the best i could to entertain.  also i have been suffering from CASS (cultural adjustment shock sydrome).  i go back and forth between new york and santo domingo and the intitial few days of each trip are rough to get through until my body and mind make the adjustment.  i just came over here a few days ago and found that my cable, inernet, and telephone service was dead and the batteries of my inversor had apparently fully drained out for some unknown reason.  so that all added to the initial adjustment stress and my eventual ranting on this forum about conditions here.

i got my batteries charged finally, the cable, phone, and internet are back, the sun is shining outside and i just had a ripe slice of pineapple for breakfast.  so everything looks fine today-  no reason to complain.

"exploiters" may have been a poor choice of words.  sometimes i feel guilty about living better than the locals.  there is real poverty here unlike in the united states where some non-working "poor" people actually live better than low income wage earners who do not qualify for government benefits.

thanks for being sympathetic bob.  i am completely happy today and wouldn't trade this place for any other place in the world.  i guess i am sort of bipolar in that sometimes everything seems bleak and other times everything is like peaches and cream.  my beautiful "younger" girlfriend is here with me now and that's all i need.

Thanks Carl for these comments!!!!   We all have our moments when we need to vent,  sorry you had to do it. 

Glad you are settling again and  feeling good about things!!!!  WOW, you had it rough the first few days.  I  can relate honey.

Glad the sun is shining today

Dealing with crap here can be exhausting and frustrating

Bob K

Hi all

My name is Harold and am looking to eventually make The Dominican Republic my part time home. Happily married to a wonderful dominicana along with whatever comes with it.

On a side note, I find the quite a few are unhappy with "living" there.

Personally I don't see why. Every corner of this world has its pro's and cons. I think the problem lies on expectations.

One has to leave the vacation mentality out of the picture when relocating. Its easy to forget that this is their country with its own set of "rules" to live by. We are the gringos who are trying living there. Its is their way of life, not ours.

We also need to look at the kind of person we are, how we conduct ourselves etc. We cannot come here and bring the same mentality from the country we are leaving. Its a disaster waiting to happen.

Take the simplest thing as driving. You want to fault someone for driving slow, not using turn signals, driving on the wrong side, parking anywhere? Its better to just leave the country because that will never change. Just take it for what it is. ADAPT.

My wife is always stressed especially when driving in Santo Domingo. I on the other hand find it amusing. I can finally use the horn. I can drive faster than normal. If i cut someone off, it just means they're slower to the punch. Its great! I'm a bit vrazier than them.

Colamados charge me an extra RD10 for a beer. This drives my wife crazy. I tell her its the extranjero price.

There are bigger problems elsewhere. If you move to a country and only pay attetion to things that aren't going your way, thats all you will ever find.

All in all good luck to everyone and hope to make friends with all of you.

If anyone is ever on the north coast. Stop by Cabrera and have beers with Tomas, funniest man ever!

Kindest regards,

Harold

Welcome Harold!!! Love your attitude.

planner wrote:

Welcome Harold!!! Love your attitude.

Thanks Darlene!  We still need to meet. I's love to hear your story and perspective.

It's all basic logic.

Correct me if i'm wrong here but one just needs to play by the "rules" and bend it as far as they can, not break it. Please interpret that as something positive. Its not to provoke anything illegal.

We just need to look deep down and see that it is us that is the issue and not the other way around.

Like I said, it is our ideals that get us into conflict. They have been living this way forever. Its their world and not yours. Your mind will always look for problems to solve. It's our nature.

I'd rather worry about where to buy queso blanco for breakfast and not the RD10 that the colmado will charge me when I buy beer to drink qhile I eat my crispy chicharron.

You bet we do honey.  Great point, we often forget we are visitors here, this is their world!!!

Harold a couple of very good posts.  Welcome.

Your attitude is what is needed to "live" here. So many just don't get it.

Bob K

Hi,

I invite you to follow this topic on this new thread:
/forum/viewtopic.php?id=495019

Thanks!